Pickup trucks has never really been the type of vehicle I would pay attention too often. Seeing as how majority of my life I have been an urban city dweller, it isn’t the type of automobile I would be looking for. However ever since I moved into the suburbs, I’ve definitely noticed them more in driveways of homes by me and there has definitely been situation where I wish I owned one. So as we ever expand the items we cover on G Style, pick up trucks naturally makes sense for us. Recently I’ve had the opportunity to spend some time with the Chevy folks and get a first look at their new Colorado ZR2! This wouldn’t be any normal drive, as the event was labelled as an “off roading experience”. I wasn’t passing this one up!
The event started off with the invitation “With the trend of “overlanding” (AKA off-road camping) and other outdoor adventure activities picking up steam in 2018, Chevrolet wants to offer you the chance to experience it for yourself. We will be hosting a day-long “off-roading 101” experience just outside of NYC”. This took place at the amazing Monticello Motorsports Club, but I’ll trip wouldn’t being there. While the Chevy Colorado ZR2 has great off roading chops, it works just as well as an everyday vehicle also. To get a field for that we actually picked the ZR2s from a garage in midtown Manhattan and drove them ourselves to the Motorsport Club in Monticello. This was almost an 2 hour trip which gave us plenty of time to get a feel for the pick up through some city stop and go traffic, nice highway stretches, and weather being what it is even some mixed showers along the way. I will say the ZR2 performance beautifully! Acceleration was good from stop and go, and when needing to pass someone on the highway. Handling for good and traction was assuring especially when we hit that patch of rain. And to say all this was done with all the creature comforts you wouldn’t normally expect in a pick up made for some off roading adventures.
After we arrive at the Monticello Motorsport Club, it was a light lunch and then time to learn some off roading 101 basics. We member of the gather press took their turn driving out this simple mini course I will call it, to get familiar with how you would drive over items like steep incline hills, just as steep descends, and the ones I specifically found daunting rolling over a hill that tilted you to the extreme side of the pick up. I serious felt like at any minute we could just roll over completely, but this was never an issue the Chevy Colorado ZR2 handled these like a boss! After we each took out turn getting some practice with the basics it was time to set up on a few off-road course environments. And let me just say this, the Monticello Motorsport Club not only offers a great race track if you are a club member and want to take out a few fast cars for a lap or two, but it’s off-road area is impressive. You are in the thick of it if off roading is your thing!
Once we hit the off-road course, we really got to see what the ZR2 could do. When it came to traversing over huge uneven dips and bumps in the road, the ZR2 was able to carry out this with style. There were points where two-wheel may have not even had contact with any ground and the ZR2 leaned on its other wheels to complete the task. To carry out this the Colorado ZR2 combines the nimbleness and maneuverability of a midsize pickup with the most off-road technology of any vehicle in its class. Some stand apart features of the ZR2 from the standard Colorado are the lifted suspensions that are 2 inches higher and front and track widths widened by 3.5 inches. It also has the class’s first off-road application of Multimatic Dynamic Suspensions Spool Valve (DSSVTM) damper technology and functional rock sliders for better performance over rocks and obstacles. And trust me this was clear in some of the spots we found ourselves in during the course.
Now for all the off-road functionality it has, it isn’t as rugged as you might expect on the inside. The Colorado ZR2 comes with Apple Carplay and Android Auto, 4G LTE WiFi, and Surround Vision (A Chevy first, this available feature uses four strategically placed cameras to create a virtual bird’s-eye view of the vehicle while maneuvering at low-speed, all camera viewpoints seamlessly merge to helping you to see both the area behind and around you.). This is no sacrificing creature comforts you might find in their SUVs or cars.
The Chevy Colorado ZR2 will have a starting base price of $40,360 and is definitely a pickup truck you should consider for your driveway! With a great experience on or off-road, the ZR2 is definitely finds itself a segment of one!